County approves additional well testing in Gilmer Park

SOUTH BEND — The quality of drinking water in St. Joseph County is a serious issue, according to Mark Nelson, director of environmental health with the St. Joseph County Health Department.

That’s why last year county officials approved a county-wide assessment to come up with long-term solutions for water quality, and also why the county commissioners on Tuesday approved additional funds for testing four wells in the Gilmer Park area, Nelson said.

The water quality is threatened by septic systems, he explained, with too many placed too close together in county subdivisions, where the water table is high enough that the septic waste is leaking into the ground water — and into drinking water.

“It’s cause for concern, but the county is addressing it and finding long-term solutions,” Nelson said.

The county government and residents have known about the problem for years, he said, and the actions taken last year to start testing will ultimately generate concrete solutions, from new septic regulations to possible water and sewer service to some areas, he said.

Testing was approved in late summer last year, but the drought and then heavy precipitation pushed back the start of water testing until late fall, Nelson said.

The newly-approved well testing in South Bend’s southside Gilmer Park area will help solidify evidence that it’s septic systems, and not other contaminants, that are affecting drinking water.

According to the request, the additional testing will cost $11,750, with the full water assessment not to exceed $105,543. The funds will be paid for out of the environmental portion of the county economic development income tax, or CEDIT.

The new testing will look for more possible pollutants than other tests, Nelson said. While statistics on nitrates in water are available all over the county and in this area, the new tests will look for such things as pharmaceuticals, some specific isotopes that would come from septic systems and human waste, and other hazardous chemicals.

Nitrates can cause health problems in large concentrations, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They can come from fertilizer runoff, erosion and, yes, leaky septic systems.

The four Gilmer Park residential wells will be selected soon, he said, and testing will take place in May and June, with results in July. An advisory working committee will look at these results, along with other results, to make recommendations on what to do in the future.

“The group has a wide range of opinions, from technical specialists to policy makers,” Nelson said.

A full report may be available as early as the end of the year, he said. The information will be used by the Regional Sewer and Water District and the Health Department to come up with goals and plans to remedy the problem.